This morning he went for a short walk with Tom while I was getting ready for work. When he came back inside, he said, "Dere was a cat outside hiding in da bushes."
Yet he can't identify colors. Toddlers are funny creatures!
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Sunday, August 02, 2009
Dexter is Two!
Happy birthday, my sweet boy. We had a very mellow day, with just a few presents in the morning and nothing else. After last year's washout of a neighbourhood party (everyone was out of town for the long weekend), I decided not to organize anything this year. Besides, we already had a party in Kelowna, and Tom's parents will be in town this week, so we'll do a cake then.
Tom and Henry left town around noon for Henry's first overnight camping trip, so Dexter and I spent a rare day together, just the two of us. He happily napped though a big part of a long walk in the stroller, waking up in time to watch boats and ducks on the canal. Stories on the couch , then an episode of Thomas so I could have a little cat nap. We enjoyed some fresh corn-on-the-cob for dinner, then headed out for another long walk, this time with him on foot. We made it all the way to Brantwood Park, had some quality swing time, then headed home. Bath, stories, night-night at 8 on the dot. All-in-all, a very nice birthday for the two of us.
So, what's he like these days? To me, the most striking thing about Dexter at age two is how much he talks. He uses 3- and 4-word sentences regularly, complete with articles and prepositions. The challenge is that a lot of it (not all) is quite garbled. There are a number of sounds he can't make when they appear at the beginning of a word (like "S", "F", "Z", and "T" & "W" to some extent), so he'll drop it and leave us to translate. So "snake" becomes "nake", etc. Other sounds and words he squishes together in a sing-songy way. And then he blends the half words and multiple words together into sentences that really do stump us sometimes. For example, today whenever he heard an unusual sound in the distance, such as machinery, he'd ask, "What's doing it?" But it comes out sounding almost like, "Let's doonut". I spent several minutes this morning trying to figure out why he was thinking about donuts before I deciphered what he was actually trying to say. Henry didn't talk nearly as much at this age, and he was a bit slow to start stringing words together, but we was exceptionally clear in his pronunciation. Dexter is all about the toddler small talk. Once he can consistently speak clearly, this kid could really be the life of the party.
As for other traits, he still loves music and has added some crazy dance moves to his repertoire. Dexter is more social and physically adventurous than his older brother, and less inclined to get deeply absorbed in a play task he's performing. He's also a lot less stubborn than Henry was at this age (one of the first phrases Henry learned how to use was "No help!", and he wouldn't do things like ride in a stroller. He'd insist on pushing it instead). It still kind of blows my mind that I can set a plate of healthy food in front of Dexter and, provided he's hungry, he'll just dig in and eat it with no further drama. That kind of stuff was just impossible when Henry was two. So, Dexter definitely has his moments, but overall he's easygoing. Except when he's in a bad mood, at which point he becomes FRICKING IMPOSSIBLE to deal with, but that issue is its own post. In broad strokes, it's starting to seem that he's more like me, personality wise, while Henry is more like Tom. Of course they're both individuals and totally just themselves in all the ways that matter, but if I was going to put it in a nutshell, that's how I'd characterize them in relation to the rest of our family.
And, oh yes--he's inherited his brother's love of dinosaurs. Not surprising, given his total immersion in all things dino since birth. He's very cute when he's in dino mode, stomping around chanting "'ino FEET! ino FEET!" and roaring. When we were in Kelowna, he came downstairs one morning and woke us up by announcing, "I am ceratops! I am ceratops. ROAR!" He meant "triceratops." He's getting there with the big names.
He's shown no interest in using potty since we returned from our long trip, which is unfortunate, but not something I care about that much at this point. Once the new year rolls around, we'll start up in earnest.
Finally, if the story I've heard about how you can double a male child's height at age 2 to estimate his adult height is true, well, let's just say that I won't be signing Dexy up for the basketball team. Not a lot of promise there. At least he's outgrown most of his 12 month clothes. Most of them. . .
What more can I say--he's a gorgeous little boy with an impish personality, tons of fun and absolutely adorable when he's in a good mood. As I intimated before, life isn't all sunshine and roses with him, but his less savory toddler traits are a subject for another post. I won't get into all that now, after a wonderful day together and lots of warm thoughts about the past two years of fun years. So, happy birthday, my sweet pea! I can't wait to see what you accomplish in year 3!
Tom and Henry left town around noon for Henry's first overnight camping trip, so Dexter and I spent a rare day together, just the two of us. He happily napped though a big part of a long walk in the stroller, waking up in time to watch boats and ducks on the canal. Stories on the couch , then an episode of Thomas so I could have a little cat nap. We enjoyed some fresh corn-on-the-cob for dinner, then headed out for another long walk, this time with him on foot. We made it all the way to Brantwood Park, had some quality swing time, then headed home. Bath, stories, night-night at 8 on the dot. All-in-all, a very nice birthday for the two of us.
So, what's he like these days? To me, the most striking thing about Dexter at age two is how much he talks. He uses 3- and 4-word sentences regularly, complete with articles and prepositions. The challenge is that a lot of it (not all) is quite garbled. There are a number of sounds he can't make when they appear at the beginning of a word (like "S", "F", "Z", and "T" & "W" to some extent), so he'll drop it and leave us to translate. So "snake" becomes "nake", etc. Other sounds and words he squishes together in a sing-songy way. And then he blends the half words and multiple words together into sentences that really do stump us sometimes. For example, today whenever he heard an unusual sound in the distance, such as machinery, he'd ask, "What's doing it?" But it comes out sounding almost like, "Let's doonut". I spent several minutes this morning trying to figure out why he was thinking about donuts before I deciphered what he was actually trying to say. Henry didn't talk nearly as much at this age, and he was a bit slow to start stringing words together, but we was exceptionally clear in his pronunciation. Dexter is all about the toddler small talk. Once he can consistently speak clearly, this kid could really be the life of the party.
As for other traits, he still loves music and has added some crazy dance moves to his repertoire. Dexter is more social and physically adventurous than his older brother, and less inclined to get deeply absorbed in a play task he's performing. He's also a lot less stubborn than Henry was at this age (one of the first phrases Henry learned how to use was "No help!", and he wouldn't do things like ride in a stroller. He'd insist on pushing it instead). It still kind of blows my mind that I can set a plate of healthy food in front of Dexter and, provided he's hungry, he'll just dig in and eat it with no further drama. That kind of stuff was just impossible when Henry was two. So, Dexter definitely has his moments, but overall he's easygoing. Except when he's in a bad mood, at which point he becomes FRICKING IMPOSSIBLE to deal with, but that issue is its own post. In broad strokes, it's starting to seem that he's more like me, personality wise, while Henry is more like Tom. Of course they're both individuals and totally just themselves in all the ways that matter, but if I was going to put it in a nutshell, that's how I'd characterize them in relation to the rest of our family.
And, oh yes--he's inherited his brother's love of dinosaurs. Not surprising, given his total immersion in all things dino since birth. He's very cute when he's in dino mode, stomping around chanting "'ino FEET! ino FEET!" and roaring. When we were in Kelowna, he came downstairs one morning and woke us up by announcing, "I am ceratops! I am ceratops. ROAR!" He meant "triceratops." He's getting there with the big names.
He's shown no interest in using potty since we returned from our long trip, which is unfortunate, but not something I care about that much at this point. Once the new year rolls around, we'll start up in earnest.
Finally, if the story I've heard about how you can double a male child's height at age 2 to estimate his adult height is true, well, let's just say that I won't be signing Dexy up for the basketball team. Not a lot of promise there. At least he's outgrown most of his 12 month clothes. Most of them. . .
What more can I say--he's a gorgeous little boy with an impish personality, tons of fun and absolutely adorable when he's in a good mood. As I intimated before, life isn't all sunshine and roses with him, but his less savory toddler traits are a subject for another post. I won't get into all that now, after a wonderful day together and lots of warm thoughts about the past two years of fun years. So, happy birthday, my sweet pea! I can't wait to see what you accomplish in year 3!
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